Szablyár Péter: Sky-high - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2007)
Office Blocks and Public Buildings
palaces on the Danube bank. The two towers raised at an impressive speed at the northern and southern ends of Árpád Bridge were given, with a cavalier gesture, hybrid English names only - the Duna and the Európa Towers. Both designed by architect György Fazekas, the towers’ architectural structure represents cutting-edge technology in Hungary. The twin towers, or rather: twin prisms, of the Duna Tower called Árpád and Margit are connected to each other with a glass corridor at the single level above the entrance hall between the two wings. Belonging to the southern tower is a seven-floor wing. There are four lifts installed in each tower providing for vertical transport within a maximum of thirty seconds. There is a 411-car capacity, three-tier underground car park beneath the buildings. The building has its own restaurant, café and buffet. The heating at a combined capacity of 2.2 megawatts is provided by Főtáv, Budapest's major district-heaters. The ribbed air conditioners, which are built into the hung ceilings, require another 2.5 megawatts. Natural ventilation is made possible by the fact that every other window can be opened. There is a built-in heat and smoke alarm system, and fire protection is provided by a network of sprinklers. This new competitor on the office-space market has a combined floor-space of 27,320 square metres to offer, where one can furnish offices between 150 and 2150 square metres per floor within two days in whatever floor- plan arrangement. The width of the smallest detachable office room is 2.7 metres, which size is determined by the 1.35 metre raster. The system of modular floorboards and mobile partition walls provide for a quick rearrangement of space, which enables the client to create a layout best suited to the requirements of the work to be done in the given office. The 16-thousand square-metre glass surfaces of Európa Tower’s facade cover two crescent-shaped tower buildings connected to each other. Two of the lifts providing for quick transfer between the floors of the fifteen-storey office block go all the way down to the underground car park. Every other window on the facade can be opened; light-protection is provided by the electrically operated shades mounted on the windows. There are shops and a bank on the ground floor. The green areas to the north of the complex blend into the outdoor precincts of the neighbouring Dagály Baths. 36
